China’s response to US downed balloon: ‘indiscriminate use of force’

The US shot down a hot air balloon off the Carolinas after it flew over top secret military installations in North America.

China on Monday accused the United States of indiscriminate use of force in shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon, saying it “has seriously affected and harmed both sides’ efforts and progress in stabilizing China-U.S. relations.”

The US shot down a hot air balloon off the Carolinas after it flew over top secret military installations in North America. China insisted that the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft.

Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said he filed a formal complaint with the US embassy on Sunday over “the attack by US military force on a Chinese civilian unmanned airship.”

“However, the United States ignored and insisted on the indiscriminate use of force against a civilian airship that was about to leave United States airspace, clearly overreacted, and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice,” Xie said.

The presence of the hot air balloon in the skies over the US has dealt a severe blow to the already strained US-China relationship, which has been in a downward spiral for years. This prompted Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes trip to Beijing aimed at easing tensions.

Xie echoed China’s claim that the balloon was a Chinese civilian unmanned airship that flew into US airspace by mistake, calling it “an accidental force majeure incident.”

China will “resolutely protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, resolutely protect the interests and dignity of China, and reserve the right to take further necessary measures,” he said.

US President Joe Biden issued the firing order after being told the best time to operate would be when he was above water, US officials said. Military officials determined that launching a balloon above the ground from 60,000 feet would pose an excessive risk to people on the ground.

“What the US has done has seriously affected and harmed the efforts of both sides and the progress made in stabilizing Sino-US relations since the Bali meeting,” Xie said, referring to the recent meeting between Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Indonesia, at which many hoped to create a positive momentum to improve relations, which had fallen to their lowest levels in years.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning on Monday offered no new details, echoing China’s insistence that the object was a civilian meteorological research balloon, had little control capability and entered US airspace by accidentally deviating from its own. course. She also did not say what additional steps China intends to take in response to Washington’s decision to cancel Blinken’s trip, which would make him the highest-ranking US official to visit the country since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We stated that this is a completely isolated and random incident caused by force majeure, but the US still deliberately inflated the incident and even used force to attack,” Mao said at a daily briefing. action.”

Balloons believed or known to be Chinese have been seen from Latin America to Japan. Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told reporters on Monday that a flying object similar to the one shot down by the US has been seen over northern Japan at least twice since 2020.

“We continue to analyze them in connection with the latest case in the United States,” he said.

Mao confirmed that the hot air balloon recently seen over Latin America was Chinese, describing it as a civilian airship used for flight testing.

“Under the influence of the weather and due to limited self-control capabilities, the airship deviated sharply from the assigned route and accidentally entered the space of Latin America and the Caribbean,” Mao said.

Washington and Beijing disagree on a range of issues, from trade to human rights, but China is most sensitive to alleged violations of its sovereignty and territorial integrity by the US and other countries.

Beijing strongly protests the sale of US military forces to Taiwan and the visits of foreign politicians to the island, which it claims is Chinese territory, in order to take it back by force if necessary.

He responded to a 2022 visit by then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi by firing rockets over the island and staging menacing military exercises that were seen as a rehearsal for an invasion or blockade. Beijing also cut off discussions with the US on issues such as climate change not related to military tensions.

Last week, Mao warned Pelosi’s successor, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, not to travel to Taiwan, implying that China’s response would be just as loud.

“China will firmly defend its sovereignty, security and development interests,” said Mao Zedong. McCarthy said China does not have the right to dictate where and when it can travel.

China also objects when foreign military reconnaissance aircraft fly off its coast in international airspace and when US and other foreign warships pass through the Taiwan Strait, accusing them of active provocations.

In 2001, a US Navy aircraft conducting routine surveillance off the coast of China collided with a Chinese fighter aircraft, killing the Chinese fighter pilot and damaging the US aircraft, which was forced to make an emergency landing at a Chinese naval airbase on the southern Chinese island. province of Hainan. China held up a 24-man U.S. Navy crew for 10 days until the U.S. expressed regret over the death of the Chinese pilot and landing at the base without permission.

The South China Sea is another major source of tension. China claims the strategically important sea almost entirely and protests when US Navy ships pass Chinese military installations.

At a press conference Friday with his South Korean counterpart, Blinken said “the presence of this observation balloon over the United States in our skies is a clear violation of our sovereignty, a clear violation of international law and is clearly unacceptable.” And we made it clear to China.”

“Any country whose airspace was violated in this way, I think, would have reacted in a similar way, and I can only imagine what China’s reaction would be if they were at the other end,” Blinken said.

According to Oriana Skylar Mastro, an expert on Chinese military affairs and foreign policy at Stanford University, China’s weather balloon explanation should be dismissed outright.

“This is a standard thing that countries often say about surveillance assets,” Mastro said.

China may have made a mistake and lost control of the balloon, Mastro said, but it was unlikely that this was a deliberate attempt to disrupt Blinken’s visit.

For the US administration, the decision to release the information and then shoot down the balloon marks a departure from its usual approach to dealing with such matters with Beijing privately, perhaps in the hope of changing China’s behavior in the future.

However, according to Mastro, it is unlikely that Beijing will react positively.

“They will probably drop it and continue as before. So I don’t see a really clear path to improving relations in the foreseeable future.”

Content Source

Dallas Press News – Latest News:
Dallas Local News || Fort Worth Local News | Texas State News || Crime and Safety News || National news || Business News || Health News

texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

Related Articles

Back to top button